Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Westside nannies in LA is fantastic. They don't lie, in my experience.

I think you're right about them. I would trust the owner of that agency.

Any trustworthy nanny agencies in the Washington area?

Nope.

Anonymous wrote:As for agencies, they are in the long run a sales business, the employers are their customers and nannies are what they sell, and with salesmen they are most always going to bend the truth to make a sale, agencies are rarely loyal to the nannies because nannies are the products they sale

This is truly SICKENING.

As for agencies, they are in the long run a sales business, the employers are their customers and nannies are what they sell, and with salesmen they are most always going to bend the truth to make a sale, agencies are rarely loyal to the nannies because nannies are the products they sale

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Westside nannies in LA is fantastic. They don't lie, in my experience.

I think you're right about them. I would trust the owner of that agency.

Any trustworthy nanny agencies in the Washington area?

I guess not.

Hmmm, horror stories.

Parent told the 2 year old my second day, "Nanny doesn't get to tell you no, you can do anything you want."

Parents allowed a 2 year old to eat just crackers and a four year old to eat just ice cream. Oh, and wanted both children in the same room I was in while I managed to sweep/mop/shine 12000 sq ft of hardwood. Every. Day. In addition to other "light housekeeping." And neither child napped.

Parent advertised that children weren't picky and had no special needs. Five children: one vegetarian, one who won't eat anything green, one who won't eat anything processed (including dairy if it wasn't made at home), one who only eats food that he saw come out of a box and one who (thank goodness!) would eat anything I handed her. Dad is allergic to shellfish, Mom is allergic to nuts, soy and corn. They wanted me to make 6 separate meals for every breakfast/dinner and 2 for lunch; the two year old and I could eat a little bit of each thing. Oh, and pack lunches for both parents and the two children in school. I asked if I could spend one Saturday a month making the meals and portioning/freezing, but they were horrified by that idea.

Parents advertised no special needs, 3 children ages 2-7, $300/week for ~30 hours/week for a two week trial period and then $800/week for closer to 45 hours/week. I live-in and the first two days were as advertised. Then Mom's sister brought over her three to stay while she traveled for a month (autism, CP, and severe ADHD respectively). The following day, I already had the six children when Mom's other sister brought over the twin infants so she could go shopping.

Five year old was mad that new baby was taking away attention, so was hitting a two month old. Parents are of the mindset that it's harmful to tell a child no, impose any negative discipline or even redirect. The only thing I was allowed to do was praise the boy when he walked away finally.

I had to report a parent to CPS. The nine year old's ribs were heavily bruised, so I was going to ice them. Dad told me that was his punishment the previous night and he wasn't to have any ice or pain medication, he needed to learn to behave and take his punishment like a man. He punched the child, repeatedly! And according to the X-Rays, there were two hairline fractures.

Mom had been a SAHM, went to nursing school. Eight year old was not handling the transition to nanny well, so I recommended spending more quality time with him rather than watching television. Parents decided counseling would be a better idea and kept scheduling appointments but arranging so that I couldn't get him there. He started hitting, kicking and punching the eleven year old (medically fragile, in remission), only option was to redirect aggression to me, but the parents were furious that I was "hurting" their child (I was hugging him and not letting go until he calmed down, and I wouldn't have done so if I had not been trained to immobilize a violent child without hurting the child or me).

Sometimes I wonder what the parents are thinking, how they can possibly think any of this is ok, especially when the nanny walks in, not expecting any of it.

On the other hand, it's always lovely when parents over exaggerate a situation so the nanny goes in well prepared. I've found that most parents that give information want the nanny to be confident that she can handle whatever the situation is, and I've been pleasantly surprised a few times when the situation was less chaotic than I was told!

Anonymous wrote:Westside nannies in LA is fantastic. They don't lie, in my experience.

I think you're right about them. I would trust the owner of that agency.

Any trustworthy nanny agencies in the Washington area?

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately there are articles that have been written that advise parents to do this. As far as I can tell the thought process or theory is that you will attract a higher caliber of candidate with the higher pay rate and then hopefully those people will be interested in the job after you meet them.

I'm sure this does happen, but I just don't get the logic behind it, especially in this particular situation. "Yeah, I know I said I was going to pay you $25/hr for four presumably neuro-typical children, but I'd actually rather pay you $10/hr for 6 children all around the same age that have multiple disabilities." It was definitely an attractive position after that!

Anonymous wrote:Wow OP, that mother sounded like a common hustler. I feel sorry for the poor nanny that they eventually ended up hiring.

What I notice about many families I interview with is that they seem in denial about their children's behavior issues.

I remember during one interview, the child was crying + screaming on and on and on....I could barely hear the parents talk.

The parents acted like they were shocked he was acting like this, they even stated he "usually doesn't act like this."

Yeah right.
Turns out, this kid was the kid from Hell. He kicked me, hit me as well as locked me out of various rooms when he was angry.

He even kicked his very pregnant mother in the stomach during a temper tantrum. She was pregnant w/twins and I commented to her, "Ah...Just think...In a few weeks you will have THREE of these...!!"

I hated that job, any time her son misbehaved (which was every second!), she would yell at me instead of him.

This particular family was like that. While she was explaining how wonderful her children are, they were in the basement hitting each other with Wii controllers because there were two controllers and five of the kids trying to play at once. She tried to play it off as them "showing off" for me, but she hadn't even brought me down to meet them yet. To me, I would only want to interview someone who had experience with multiple children with disabilities, but I'm sure that would have been difficult to find.

Westside nannies in LA is fantastic. They don't lie, in my experience.

Wow OP, that mother sounded like a common hustler. I feel sorry for the poor nanny that they eventually ended up hiring.

What I notice about many families I interview with is that they seem in denial about their children's behavior issues.

I remember during one interview, the child was crying + screaming on and on and on....I could barely hear the parents talk.

The parents acted like they were shocked he was acting like this, they even stated he "usually doesn't act like this."

Yeah right.
Turns out, this kid was the kid from Hell. He kicked me, hit me as well as locked me out of various rooms when he was angry.

He even kicked his very pregnant mother in the stomach during a temper tantrum. She was pregnant w/twins and I commented to her, "Ah...Just think...In a few weeks you will have THREE of these...!!"

I hated that job, any time her son misbehaved (which was every second!), she would yell at me instead of him.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is why I only work with a good agency.

Please name one single nanny agency that doesn't "bend the truth" (lie) to nannies.
Thank you.

Anyone?

Anonymous wrote:This is why I only work with a good agency.

Please name one single nanny agency that doesn't "bend the truth" (lie) to nannies.
Thank you.

This is why I only work with a good agency.

Unfortunately there are articles that have been written that advise parents to do this. As far as I can tell the thought process or theory is that you will attract a higher caliber of candidate with the higher pay rate and then hopefully those people will be interested in the job after you meet them.

I was just reading another post about a NF that posted position with $15-$20/hr salary, but stated in the actual ad that they wanted to pay $12/hr. I was thinking about all of the deceptive things that people write in their ads to get you "hooked" hoping that you will just fall in love with their children at the interview and want to work for them despite the lies that they posted in their advertisements.

Last summer, I was looking for a part time position to supplement my hours at my full time job. I found a family on Care.com who needed someone on the days that I didn't work with for my other NF, so it seemed perfect. The advertisement said they had four children, paid $25/hr and the position would start in August (it was early July when I applied). I talked back and forth a bit with the mother, and we set up a meet and greet with her and the children. When I walked in the house, I counted six children- a set of twins and a set of quads. I think at least 3 or 4 of the kids had some type of special needs including hearing/visual impairments and autism. She also told me that she is looking to pay $10/hr because "it won't really be like working since the kids are so good!" (as they were screaming and arguing downstairs). The kicker was that she asked me if I would be available the next day as she had a work meeting she really wanted to attend.

When I told her that I had a doctor's appointment that I couldn't change for the next day (I was seeing a specialist that took months to get into) she seemed dejected and never contacted me again, thankfully! I'm not really sure what she was thinking. I'm sure I could have made it work with the different disabilities and number of children, but definitely not for $10/hr!

Any crazy stories of lying potential employers?